Video 6:53
Yothu Yindi inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame

Alison Middleton
Fri Nov 30 22:11:00 EST 2012

Honouring the band that took Indigenous music around the world.

Transcript

LOUISA REBGETZ, PRESENTER: Its blend of Indigenous music and rock'n'roll is known around the world. Yothu Yindi was the first predominantly Aboriginal band to break into the international scene. Nearly 30 years since the band's beginnings, Yothu Yindi were this week inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in Sydney. But it's not the end of the road, with Yothu Yindi releasing its first song in a decade. Alison Middleton reports.

PETER GARRETT, FORMER MIDNIGHT OIL FRONTMAN: Yothu Yindi certainly, by platforming themselves to the rest of Australia and then ultimately the world, were pioneers.

ALISON MIDDLETON, REPORTER: It's a reunion of a band that took Aboriginal music around the world. At a dress rehearsal for the ARIA Awards, Yothu Yindi prepares to return to the stage.

MANDAWUY YUNUPINGU, YOTHU YINDI: I think it's been a long journey but it's been a good one.

ANDREW FARRISS, INXS: They have been great ambassadors for Australian music but also for Aboriginal music. They are one of the first bands to really try and fuse that traditional music in Australia with electronic music and rock music and all kinds of music, and I think they're real groundbreakers in that area.

ALISON MIDDLETON: Yothu Yindi formed in 1986 with non-Indigenous and Aboriginal musicians from the Northern Territory's Top End. Two years later they toured the United States and Canada as a support act for Midnight Oil.

PETER GARRETT, FORMER MIDNIGHT OIL FRONTMAN: That combination, if you like, of the culture of the band with the music of the time was something which audiences would not have seen before and I think were quite blown away by it.

PAUL KELLY, MUSICIAN: I had never seen anything quite like them before with the dancers and the singing and Mandawuy on stage with his big smile and his headband and big head of hair and so much going on, on stage.

ALISON MIDDLETON: Lead singer Mandawuy Yunupingu became Australia's first Aboriginal school principal. But his music career took over when the band's second album proved a worldwide success.

ALAN JAMES, YOTHU YINDI BAND MANAGER: The band became huge in Australia, I think the Tribal Voice album went about 3 or 4 times platinum, Treaty went to number 11 on the ARIA charts and it went top 10 worldwide on the dance charts.

ALISON MIDDLETON: The hit 'Treaty' was the first song in an Aboriginal language to win international recognition.

ALAN JAMES, YOTHU YINDI BAND MANAGER: Treaty was a song clearly that struck a chord - it struck a chord politically and it struck a chord musically - people were dancing to it all over the world.

ALISON MIDDLETON: The achievements kept coming. In 1993, Mandawuy Yunupingu was named Australian of the Year. Seven years later, the band performed at the Sydney Olympics. But the music slowed when Mandawuy Yunupingu was diagnosed with kidney disease. For the last five years, he's needed dialysis treatment three times a week.

ALAN JAMES, YOTHU YINDI BAND MANAGER: Well clearly once you've got a serious illness like that touring becomes impossible and so that's been the major impact - is it's prevented him from performing.

ALISON MIDDLETON: At a check-up in Darwin, Mandawuy Yunupingu's doctor says his health has improved.

DR PAUL LAWTON, RENAL SPECIALIST: He's been able to get home to Yirrkala and have dialysis out there and that's improved not only his mental health as it would, but also his physical health because he's able to do more with family and friends out there.

DR PAUL LAWTON, RENAL SPECIALIST: We're hoping in the coming year, after Mandawuy's completed some further tests to make sure he's fit for a transplant that he'll be able to get a transplant on the deceased donor waiting list in the next 12 months or so.

ALISON MIDDLETON: His battle with illness has inspired new music. Healing Stone is the first song from Yothu Yindi in a decade and was co-written with Andrew Farris of INXS.

ALAN JAMES, YOTHU YINDI BAND MANAGER: Healing Stone, I guess really is a reflection of traditional medicine, traditional Yolgnu culture and medicine and he's using that song and the clip to try and get the message out to Aboriginal people nationally - how important it is to look after yourself.

ANDREW FARRISS, INXS: We've been rehearsing for Yothu Yindi's induction into the Hall of Fame here at the ARIAs, which is very exciting. I'm pleased to see that he's got a bit of fire back again, which is fantastic.

ALISON MIDDLETON: In the spotlight at the ARIAS, Yothu Yindi pushed for greater awareness of kidney disease and recognition of Indigenous people in the Constitution.

MANDAWUY YUNUPINGU, YOTHU YINDI: Yothu Yindi has been about messages, teaching Australians and everyone and bringing them together.

ALISON MIDDLETON: The honour of the Hall of Fame caps off a lifetime of achievements.

PETER GARRETT, FORMER MIDNIGHT OIL FRONTMAN: It's a great day for the band, for their fans and the people who enjoy their music but also for people of the Top End and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people generally.

MANDAWUY YUNUPINGU, YOTHU YINDI: Feel proud to be involved in that. It's going to be a good one for my family to see that we are being accepted by the wider community and it's really good.

ALISON MIDDLETON: Yothu Yindi's return to the stage has inspired the band to continue making music.

MANDAWUY YUNUPINGU, YOTHU YINDI: Hoping that this will help us to come up with new songs, more songs and record, and it will help us to continue on that journey.